That Island

The first close contact I had with Taiwan was about 20 years ago when a dear Taiwanese friend in Singapore told me that her Dad was going back to visit his relatives in China, 50 years after he had been sent to a “short vacation” to Taiwan and was never able to return until then. I was very touched by this story and since that time, I dreamt of visiting that island. I love going to China as much as I love going to Japan, and I can confirm I found a mixture of both. I did not know what to expect of Taiwan, so I did what I like the most. Arriving in a new country without knowing much about it and start discovering it little by little. It's as if, those inedited images start appearing in your retina, but then soon after it all becomes familiar... like home. I stayed 2 weeks and I walked between 15 to 20 km a day. I took public transports, I did a crash course on conversational Mandarin, I discovered the beauty of its respectful people, I had a daily overdose of caffeine which I consider the best in the world, I went to places where local people go, and to touristic places packed with the new arrival of Chinese. Here I present the result of those two wonderful weeks, and I hope, this could become a long term project on this beautiful country.